Highlights from previous Beatles Collections

On the 20th March 1964 The Beatles released Can't Buy Me Love and in the second of our Beatles Anniversary Auctions, we marked the 50th anniversary of the release with a one off auction for Beatles collectors worldwide. The auction, which took place on the 50th anniversary, 20th March 2014, contained a large collection of rare vinyl and memorabilia with items to suit all budgets, so Beatles collectors everywhere could get involved.

As well as it being a live auction where collectors can bid in person, the sale was broadcast live over the internet so that collectors could bid from anywhere in the world.

A piano over 100 years old, used by John Lennon and Paul McCartney whilst filming Help! in 1965 is to be sold. The 1907 Bechstein Concert Grand piano was situated in Twickenham studios from around the 1930's up until its purchase from the studio by film director, Richard Lester in the late 1960’s. It has undoubtedly been used by a number of important stars of stage and film but most significantly it was used by Lennon and McCartney during the filming of Help!, making it a fantastic piece of Beatles history.

82 year old Lester, was one of the most influential directors of the 1960s, directing The Beatles first film ‘A Hard Days Night’, ‘Help!’ and Superman during the 1980s amongst others. Lester recalls "When the film was being written under the imaginative working title 'Beatles Two', the writers and I wanted to call it 'Help'. Unfortunately, we were informed by copyright lawyers that someone else had registered that title, so Ringo helpfully offered 'Eight Arms to Hold You' (relating to the multi-armed statue in the script). Needless to say there wasn't a huge amount of enthusiasm to write that title song, but we carried on until it came close to shooting the title sequence for the film. Another desperate phone call to the lawyers resulted but fortunately we were informed that if we added an exclamation mark (!) we could use this as a title so the film arrived at its new title ‘HELP!’. Once we received this news we immediately arranged a meeting with The Beatles and the crew to inform them and set them to the task of writing a song to go with the title. They started on this immediately at the studio using the Bechstein piano and continued working on it on their car journey home and throughout that evening. The next morning they arrived at the studio with the track ready to show us and promptly played it on the piano a number of times. When we heard the song, we knew it was right and I think it was shortly after that they went into Abbey Road and recorded the song and the rest is history."

Lester continues "Later on, when coming to the end of the shooting of the film, Paul was spending a lot of time at the piano composing and fine tuning “Yesterday” or the “Scrambled Eggs” song as it was originally entitled by Paul. He was playing it that much that I actually threatened to remove the piano off the set if he didn’t finish the song soon and give it a rest. When it was released in August 1965 Paul actually sent me a copy with a note attached saying “I’m glad you didn’t take the piano away – hope you like the “Scrambled Eggs” song now!”.

The piano which expected to sell for over £50,000 is part of an auction of over 200 lots of rare Beatles memorabilia and vinyl records to be hosted by Omega Auctions on 20th March 2014 at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the release of The Beatles number one hit “Can’t Buy Me Love”.

Press Release 9th February 2014 - RARE BEATLES JACKETS UNDER THE HAMMER
Rare jackets worn by George Harrison and Ringo Starr in the filming of The Beatles 1965 film Help! are to go up for sale. The comedy adventure, directed by Richard Lester, sees the group come up against an evil cult and fleeing to the Austrian Alps to seek refuge. The jackets which were worn throughout the five days of filming in the Alps and also feature on the iconic album cover of the soundtrack, are expected to sell for in excess of £50,000.

The jackets have come from Lester’s private collection. The 82 year old, was one of the most influential directors of the 1960s, directing The Beatles first film ‘A Hard Days Night’, ‘Help!’ and Superman during the 1980s amongst others.

Auctioneer Paul Fairweather says “as Beatles clothing goes these have got to be amongst the Holy Grail for any Beatles collector. They feature on one of their most recognisable album covers and I have a feeling these could really fly off the block!”. Fairweather continues “the coats are tailored and very stylish and if I had the money to afford them I would wear them without hesitation.”

The sale is part of an auction of over 200 lots of rare Beatles memorabilia and vinyl records to be hosted by Omega Auctions on 20th March 2014 at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the release of The Beatles number one hit “Can’t Buy Me Love”.